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Big Data – The Big Picture

The Big Picture About Big Data. Can you connect the dots? This is what I see as happening in the world of Big Data as it relates to us an individuals. This is very personal.

1.) One of the largest investment areas within IBM, SAP, Google and Oracle concerns Business Intelligence . “Part of the reason SAP and Oracle acquired business intelligence software firms (BusinessObjects and Hyperion, respectively) was so they could offer a complete package, with both transactional and analytical systems.”

3.) Most of the computer titans are fighting the adoption of Personal Information Management privacy laws adoption.

Silicon Valley stomps on digital disclosure bill. http://rt.com/usa/silicon-valley-stomps-privacy-bill-794/. Why do you think this is so important to these large Enterprise Players? Your personal information, web habits, and preferences are being recorded, stored, mind (Business Analytics tools), and sold to advertisers, aggregators and others.

4.) One of the latest technology buzz words is called “Big Data” which means that there are large pools of data that are being generated and stored to be used to someone’s advantage in the near future. Very large pools of data. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data

5.) Major Enterprise Service Providers are harvesting and selling your information with or without your knowledge and or consent.

“Financial analysts asked how Google will monetize new products such as Google Now, which functions as a kind of personal digital assistant to automatically give users information as they go about their day.

“I’m not worried about that,” Page said. “The better the job we can do in providing users with information without their asking for it, the better we can provide commercial information from people who are excited about promoting it.”

6.) Predictive analytics: There is a growing field of knowledge called Predictive analytics that is in the early stages of it’s adoption curve. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictive_analytics
Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of techniques from statistics, modeling, machine learning, and data mining that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future, or otherwise unknown, events.

9.) A long followed process within the computer industry and other industries is called DIKW – Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom. From raw Data, Information can be surmised. From Information sources, Knowledge can be learned. With enough Knowledge, Wisdom is eventually achieved. And we all know that wisdom is Power!

CONNECTING THE DOTS:
What you need to know as an individual:
* Business Intelligence is all about gaining knowledge from Data and Information.
* Your Personal Information is being captured, tracked and harvested without your knowledge, and or consent.
* You have limited to no personal privacy when it comes to your personal information.
* Major corporations are spending millions to make sure that the current state of privacy as it relates to personal information stays in the state it is. Meaning individuals have limited to no privacy as it relates to their personal information.
* Many different kinds of data and information are being gathered and stored (Big Data) and aggregated in anticipation of near term information technology advancements in Business Intelligence tools, and Predictive Analytics tools.
* Your Personal Information is being gathered, stored, tracked, mind, and packaged for sale to Enterprise scale firms for their use in the future.
* One of the reasons you are not paying for complex services being offered up by some of the major brand name Social Media sites is that they are the ones gathering the data. Remember, “If you are not paying for the service… You are the product.” Meaning your personal information is the product.
* The market is enormous (Trillions) for leaders in the field that will be able to mine the information, gain knowledge from that information, and have the wisdom to be able to predict your daily patterns and serve up products and services that you may or may not be interested in.

PREDICTION:
What to expect. In the not too distant future, firms like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon and others will be able to serve up suggestions for your needs on an ongoing basis, either solicited by you, or unsolicited, depending on how you have set your personal preferences to be “Fed” information. Amazon does this now in a static mode with their suggestions features, from the Wisdom they have gathered and gained. This will become more invasive and prevent. You will be able to walk down the street and be instantly informed of what the local merchant community is serving up and pushing at the moment. As you drive down the street, ads will flash by on your imbedded and or mobile devices pushing what the merchants perceive as either your patterns of purchase or what they are pushing at the moment.

My stance is neither pro nor con on this coming title wave of information headed your way as a result of the convergence of many disparate technologies. It is up to you to decide how to manage this data deluge.

IN CONCLUSION:
I hope this puts a few of the current trends into perspective and helps you understand what these technologies are about, and some of the uses of Big Data, Business Intelligence, and Predictive Analytics. Why they are important to the Industry titans. And how they will eventually enter into and effect our personal lives. Very soon this will get very personal.

2 thoughts on “Big Data – The Big Picture”

Great article on connecting Big Data w/ Personal Information. I couldn’t agree more when you re-iterated that privacy is dead! Since I currently working at the cross section of Digital Marketing and Data Science, I’ve learned about tools and techniques that leverage personal information provided by Facebook ads and Google ads. One example: Target the AD to only those male users within age range 20-25 who are single and who have their birth day in next 7 days. It’s amazingly powerful from a marketer’s point of view, but as a user? well, depends on how you see it and as you said, their’s no pros and cons, but it’s up-to individuals on how they mange this.